Students win, tenure loses

A judge in California just sent shock waves across America’s public education system, declaring tenure laws unconstitutional.

The case started two years ago, when nine students sued the state of California, asserting that their constitutional right to equality of education is violated by laws that protect “grossly inadequate teachers.” Two unions representing 425,000 teachers stepped in to fight the students, their families and a legal team backed by a powerful education reformer, Students First.

The students had two main arguments.

First, that five California laws that allow public school teachers to secure (and keep) tenure after 18 short months caused the students to be unreasonably exposed to “grossly ineffective teachers.” And second, that minority and poor students were disproportionately stuck with them.